Armed Combat and Warfare (Explaining Human Culture)

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Overview
Exercise ID: 1.47
Class size: Any
Level(s): I II III
Source: Produced by HRAF


Learning Objectives

Does the exercise compare 2 or more cultures? Yes
Subject selection: Student chooses from pre-selected list
Subjects/OCMS, if applicable: 720, 710
Region selection: pre-selected
Region, if applicable: Various
Culture selection: Student chooses from entire collection
Cultures/OWCs, if applicable:
Samples:

Classroom Guide

Instructions for navigating eHRAF included? Yes
Assignments for students to complete in groups? Yes
Assignments for students to complete on their own? Yes
Instructions for Microfiche version? No
 

Carol R. Ember, Hattie Berke, Jonathan Zhang, Human Relations Area Files

These eHRAF Teaching exercises are designed to accompany the Armed Combat and Warfare topical summary in Explaining Human Culture. The summary concentrates on what researchers have found using data from the anthropological record to test theories about how and why armed combat and warfare vary. The exercises included below are intended to convey both the range of cross-cultural variation and possible causes and consequences of that variation.

Level I

Exercise I: Warfare and Residence

When studying war, social scientists usually distinguish between internal warfare (violence within a society) and external warfare (violence between societies). Cross-cultural research suggests that variation in warfare may predict rules of marital residence.

Question 1: From the Armed Combat and Warfare module, what does the research tell us about how  residence patterns and type of warfare may be related?

Read the excerpts from eHRAF World Cultures and answer Questions 2 and 3 in the table below for each society. As you read, take note of with whom society members fight most and whom they view as allies. Record your finding in the table below. The residence pattern for each society has been provided for you.

Note: Excerpts can be found by clicking on the linked document below, or in eHRAF Browse Documents, searching for the author’s last name, then clicking on the publication and selecting the appropriate page number in the drop down menu in the upper right hand corner.

 

Society Name Q2: Is there any report of internal warfare?  If so, describe briefly between what kinds of groups and frequency of such warfare if you can find it. Give citations in the form of author, date and page number. Q3: Is there a report of external warfare? If so, with what other groups? Give citations in the form of author, date and page number.

 

 Marital residence (for the average family)
Mandan/Hidatsa matrilocal
Tapirape matrilocal
Azande patrilocal
Nuer patrilocal
Tehuelche patrilocal
Pawnee matrilocal

 

Question 4. After filling out the table, assess whether the trends you see reflect or support the research outlined in the “Residence” section of the Armed Combat and Warfare summary.

Level II

Exercise  II: Socialization for Aggression

Warfare has been theorized both as a consequence of and a predictor of aggressive socialization techniques.

Question 1. Now that you have read the Armed Combat and Warfare module, what does cross-cultural research suggest about two different theories–that socialization for aggression is a cause of war, or that socialization is a consequence of warfare?

Question 2: In what ways can these two realities form a spiral of violence?

Below are six cases of socialization for aggression. Read the passages provided from eHRAF World Cultures and note any interesting findings as you go along.  Note what caretakers explicitly convey or display about aggression and violence and record your findings in the table below. After the table is complete, discuss your results and answer the questions below. Keep in mind that aggression can be encouraged or discouraged by caretakers. But aggression training can also be viewed in another way; that is, whether the caretaker provides an aggressive model by punishing a child with physical or vocal aggression. Record your findings in the table below by answering questions 3 and 4.

Note: Excerpts can be found by clicking on the linked document below, or in eHRAF Browse Documents, searching for the author’s last name, then clicking on the publication and selecting the appropriate page number in the drop down menu in the upper right hand corner.

Culture Name Degree of warfare Q3: Describe what caretakers are explicitly conveying about aggression to their children (that is, are they encouraging or discouraging it?) Q4: Does the caretaker display physical aggression themselves in the course of disciplining children?
Saami Absent or rare
Jivaro Frequent warfare
Kwoma Frequent warfare
Semai Absent or rare
Nuer Frequent warfare
Lepcha Absent or rare

 

Question 5: Is the aggression training for each society explicitly stated to relate to warfare training?

Question 6: Are these examples consistent with the research described in the Armed Combat and Warfare module?

Question 7: Reflect on your own experiences or observations in your society or culture (please identify your society or culture), in what ways might violence be encouraged or discouraged in youth? Do these experiences vary by gender? At what ages are the youth exposed to this type of socialization? Reflect on how your own society trains its warriors (military/armed forces). Compare your observations from your own culture to your observations from the passages mentioned in the table above. In what ways are these similar or different?

Level II

Exercise III: Women as Warriors

Cross-culturally, warfare is almost entirely dominated by men, and is more of a cross-cultural universal than almost any other gender difference (Goldstein, 2001). This being said, there are still a handful of documented cases of female warriors around the globe. The excerpts from eHRAF listed below are six examples of such cases.

Read the following passages from eHRAF World Cultures regarding women warriors, and report any interesting findings as you go along. If there are any similar trends that you see between the different excerpts, note those as well.

Note: Excerpts can be found by clicking on the linked document below, or in eHRAF Browse Documents, searching for the author’s last name, then clicking on the publication and selecting the appropriate page number in the drop down menu in the upper right hand corner.

Question 1:  Among the six societies that have reports reporting the existence of women warriors, what distinctions, if any, are present between their role as warriors, and the male warriors?

Question 2: Why do you think this may be? Looking at least three cultures, use supportive quotes from the ethnography to support your answer.

Level III

Exercise IV: The goal of the exercise is for you to do some investigative cross-cultural research of your own. Pick a warfare topic of interest to you and write a 1-2 page essay identifying the warfare topic, a question of interest to you, the societies or cultures, a summary of similarities and differences, and some ideas about what could be explored in the future. Make sure you give citations for points in your discussion.

Since not all subjects are described for all cultures, the first step is to pick one aspect of warfare you want to learn more about and examine it cross-culturally using at least 3 cultures around the world. To give you a better idea, topics can include things like peacemaking (OCM 728), weaponry and military technology (OCM 710-very wide so specify as needed, 713),, pre (or post)-combat ritual and ceremonies (for post-combat use OCM 727 for pre-combat use OCM 722), warfare taboos (OCM 722), instigation of war (OCM 721), military strategy (OCMs 723 and 725), status of warriors (OCM 701), training of warriors (OCM 702), war trophies (OCM 727), etc. Use Advanced Search with your subject of interest. Create a table to document your results.

The second step will be to pick cultures with a decent amount of information on the topic of interest. A good strategy is to pick cultures with similarity or contrast of some kind, such as different parts of the world, differences in subsistence (you can use filters), or different types of warfare.

 

Image credit for cover photo:

Fine Art, War and peace (Honorable Mention). 2014. Paintings by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jamal D Sutter, distributed under a PD-USGove-Military-Air Force license (VIRIN: 141202-F-PO994-001). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fine_Art,_War_and_peace_(Honorable_Mention)_141202-F-PO994-001.jpg

About Francine Barone

Director of Academic Development and Operations, Human Relations Area Files at Yale University